African Journal of Microbiology Research Vol. 5(12), pp. 1361-1367, 18 June, 2011 Available online http://www.academicjournals.org/ajmr DOI: 10.5897/AJMR10.101 ISSN 1996-0808 ©2011 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Variability in antimicrobial activity of latex from two varieties of Ficus carica Houda Lazreg Aref 1 *, Bel Hadj Salah Karima 2 , Abdelwaheb Fekih 5 , Rachid Chemli 6 , Massoud Mars 3 , Mahjoub Aouni 2 , Jean Pierre Chaumon 4 and Khaled Said 1 1 Laboratoire de Génétique, Biodiversité et Valorisation des Bio ressources (UR 03ES09), Institut Supérieur de Biotechnologie, 5000 Monastir, Tunisie. 2 Laboratoire des Maladies Transmissibles et Substances Biologiquement Actives, Faculté de Pharmacie, 5000 Monastir, Tunisie. 3 Laboratoire U.R. Agro biodiversité, Département des sciences Horticoles Institut Supérieur Agronomique, 4042, Tunisie. 4 Laboratoire de Botanique et cryptogamie, Faculté de Pharmacie Besançon, 25000 cedex, France. 5 Laboratoire de Chimie, 03/UR/1202, Faculté de Médecine Dentaire, 5000 Monastir, Tunisie. 6 Laboratoire de Pharmacognosie et phytothérapie, Faculté de pharmacie, 5000 Monastir, Tunisie Accepted 19 May, 2011 Fig latex has been a typical component in the health-promoting Mediterranean diet for millennia. To study its potential constituents, two varieties differing in color of fruit [Bidhi Bither: (BB); Kahli Bither: (KB)] and their growth area were analyzed for their organic extracts against sixteen microbes. The capacity of extracts was evaluated based on the inhibition zone, using the disc-diffusion assay, minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) for bacteria and yeasts, the method of calculating the inhibition percentage (I%) and Agar punched wells method for fungi, respectively. Extracts of (BB 1 ) variety from Chott Meriam showed the highest antimicrobial activities against the studied microorganisms when compared to (KB) variety and those from Mahdia. Ethyl acetate extracts had inhibition effect on the multiplication of Enterococcus faecalis, Citobacter freundii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis and Escherchia coli. For the opportunist pathogenic yeasts, ethyl acetate and chloroformic fractions showed a very strong inhibition (100%) and an MIC of 0.082 and 1.25 μg/ml for (BB) and (KB), respectively, while ethanolic fraction had a total inhibition against Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Candida krusei and Candida parapsilosis. Microsporum canis was strongly inhibited with ethanolic extract (75%) and totally with ethyl acetate extract at a concentration of 500 μg/ml. Key words: Ficus carica, latex, organic extracts, fungi, yeasts, bacteria, antimicrobial activity. INTRODUCTION Mycosis and other diseases caused by microbes, such as bacteria and fungi, remain one of the serious health problems. Tunisian traditional system of medicine, like others in the world, has put forward a number of medicinal plants and their formulation for antibacterial and antifungal, such as candidose activities. In the modern age, it is very important to provide scientific proof *Corresponding author. E-mail: ibrahimhoudarf@yahoo.fr. Tel: +216 97 654 133, Fax: 00216 73 568 900. to justify the various medicinal uses of herbs and plants or part of plants. Ficus carica L. (Moraceae) are used as constipation, hemorrhoid and high cholesterol in traditional medicine (Çakilciolu and Türkolu, 2007; Koyuncu et al., 2009; Cansaran and Kaya, 2010) and is consumed raw (uncooked) to treat constipation (Çakilciolu et al., 2010). Herbal drugs are prescribed widely even when their biologically active compounds are known because of their effectiveness, fewer side effects and relatively low cost (Valiathan, 1998). However, we are not aware of a satisfactory remedy for serious microbial diseases and